Jobless rate rose in March across the Capital Region

The creation of thousands of new jobs over the past year apparently did nothing to ease the Capital Region’s unemployment situation. Figures released Tuesday afternoon by the state Department of Labor showed the March unemployment rate rose to 7.6 percent from 7.3 percent a year earlier.

The all-time high for March was set in 2010, when unemployment idled 7.7 percent of the workforce.

Data show 33,400 residents of the five-county metropolitan area were unemployed and looking for work, up from 32,100 a year earlier. Another 408,400 were employed, up from 406,400 in March 2011.

Unemployment totaled 11.1 percent of the workforce in Schoharie County and 8.2 percent in Rensselaer County. Albany and Saratoga counties each had a 7.1 percent jobless rate, with Schenectady County at 7.7 percent.

Figures released last Thursday showed the Capital Region added 7,600 jobs over the past year. The private sector added 8,000 jobs, while the public sector shed 400 jobs. That survey measured jobs located in the Capital Region, while Tuesday’s unemployment rate sampled people living in the Capital Region.